


Letting Go

by PhantomGrimalkin



Series: Mark of Fate [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomGrimalkin/pseuds/PhantomGrimalkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony has never been especially good with relationships, and having an increasing number of soulmates seems like it should be all the harder. A reflection on how he learned to stop worrying and love his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Letting Go

Tony had been raised to be proud of being markless. Both his parents were as well, and Howard proudly boasted that it was part of what made Starks strong- they _made_ their own destinies. With as rocky as their relationship was, Tony clung to anything that made Howard strong.

There was a time, growing up, when Tony scoffed at the idea of soul spots. He'd grown up to be a hard atheist, someone who wouldn't believe in anything that couldn't be scientifically proven, and nothing about soul spots had been proven by science. They existed, no one knew anything else. They just didn't make a lot of sense, a random skin coloration that somehow marked two people as being soulmates. Given that soulmate relationships failing were gradually becoming more known, it was all the easier to brush it off as a load of crap.

Rhodey had one. It had been one of the topics that they got into heated debate about, because Rhodey wanted to find his soulmate and Tony thought it was a waste of time. After a few years of that, Tony woke up to the surprise of his life- a pale white soul spot in the shape of an army medal. At first he tried to convince himself he'd gotten drunk and had gotten some weird tattoo, but in his heart he knew it wasn't true. He also knew it didn't match Rhodey's mark, he'd seen it enough times.

Rhodey was also most definitely straight. When he thought about it, Tony had to admit that he didn't really want to date Rhodey, either. So he hid the mark, assuming it was a fluke and not worth talking about.

* * *

 

Dating Pepper probably wasn't a good idea, but some would argue that bad choices were Tony Stark's hallmark. She was beautiful, intelligent, markless, and didn't put up with his crap. She was wonderful and he knew he never wanted to lose her. She was also, of course, incredibly hot and if dating happened to include passionate sex, then who was he to complain? He convinced himself that he was Tony Stark, he could get anyone he wanted, if she was willing to have him then he deserved to have her.

Instead, it fell apart spectacularly and they both were constantly just trying to hold it together pretty much from the beginning. In a cruel twist of fate, which he still insisted he didn't believe in, he developed a soul spot for her as well. He could see the horror on her face before she was able to hide it.

Still, he tried to convince himself that this time it was real. This time it was right. This time it was different. This time, she really was his soulmate.

When she finally told him she was finished, all he could feel was a flood of relief and regret for having put her through so much.

* * *

 

Initially, he mourned. He was sure he was going to lose her now. He had chased away an amazing person. He had put her through Hell just because he was selfish.

Instead, within weeks he found his relationship with her had improved greatly. They actually did fall back into being good friends. It felt more right than trying to date ever had, and eventually he realized it was the same way he felt about Rhodey.

When he watched Pepper and Natasha gradually begin a relationship, part of him did get jealous. But above that, he saw what he hadn't been able to offer Pepper- which was what she needed. It helped that they had a better relationship now than they ever had while dating, now that they were just being themselves instead of trying to force themselves into something that was never going to work. 

Watching his friends with their partners, he started realizing there was something he couldn't put his finger on. Something between them that he'd never actually experienced. That romantic spark. Growing up, he'd always assumed the only difference between friends and dating was sex, and anyone who claimed otherwise was fooling themselves. Now he was starting to learn otherwise.

All of his friends were attractive in their own way. If they were willing, Tony would've happily had sex with any of them. All of them. At once, if he was feeling particularly adventurous. That 'romance' aspect, though, just never held any real appeal. It felt like trying to speak French by flipping through a dictionary. Which may have been why things fell apart so spectacularly with Pepper- he didn't appreciate what she gave him, he was trying to speak a language he just didn't know. And had no desire to know.

Gradually, he did start gaining marks for the other Avengers, as he knew he would. They were people he loved dearly and wanted to keep for as long as they would let him, and the less he pushed himself to be something he wasn't, the happier they were to stay in his life.

Perhaps it should have felt lonely, when everyone around him was pairing up. At first, he did worry that he would lose them. Once he realized that they still had room for him, it was easy to relax. It was hard to feel lonely when he had so many people who loved him, though.


End file.
